Why Are Finland’s Schools Successful?The country’s achievements in education have other nations doing their homework

A At Kirkkojarvi Comprehensive School in Espoo, a suburb west

of Helsinki, Kari Louhivuori, the school’s principal, decided

to try something extreme by Finnish standards. One of his

sixth-grade students, a recent immigrant, was falling behind,

resisting his teacher’s best efforts. So he decided to hold

the boy back a year. Standards in the country have vastly

improved in reading, math and science literacy over the past

decade, in large part because its teachers are trusted to do

whatever it takes to turn young lives around. ‘I took Besart on

that year as my private student,’ explains Louhivuori. When

he was not studying science, geography and math, Besart

was seated next to Louhivuori’s desk, taking books from a tall

stack, slowly reading one, then another, then devouring them

by the dozens. By the end of the year, he had conquered his

adopted country’s vowel-rich language and arrived at the

realization that he could, in fact, learn.

B This tale of a single rescued child hints at some of the

reasons for Finland’s amazing record of education success.

The transformation of its education system began some

40 years ago but teachers had little idea it had been so

successful until 2000. In this year, the first results from

the Programme for International Student Assessment

(PISA), a standardized test given to 15-year-olds in more

than 40 global venues, revealed Finnish youth to be the

best at reading in the world. Three years later, they led in

math. By 2006, Finland was first out of the 57 nations that

participate in science. In the latest PISA scores, the nation

came second in science, third in reading and sixth in math

among nearly half a million students worldwide.

C In the United States, government officials have attempted

to improve standards by introducing marketplace

competition into public schools. In recent years, a group

of Wall Street financiers and philanthropists such as Bill

Gates have put money behind private-sector ideas, such

as charter schools, which have doubled in number in the

past decade. President Obama, too, apparently thought

competition was the answer. One policy invited states to

compete for federal dollars using tests and other methods

to measure teachers, a philosophy that would not be

welcome in Finland. ‘I think, in fact, teachers would tear

off their shirts,’ said Timo Heikkinen, a Helsinki principal

with 24 years of teaching experience. ‘If you only

measure the statistics, you miss the human aspect.’

D There are no compulsory standardized tests in Finland,

apart from one exam at the end of students’ senior year

in high school. There is no competition between students,

schools or regions. Finland’s schools are publicly funded.

The people in the government agencies running them,

from national officials to local authorities, are educators

rather than business people or politicians. Every school

has the same national goals and draws from the same

pool of university-trained educators. The result is that

a Finnish child has a good chance of getting the same

quality education no matter whether he or she lives in a

rural village or a university town.

E It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry to

school. Finland provides three years of maternity leave

and subsidized day care to parents, and preschool for

all five-year-olds, where the emphasis is on socializing.

In addition, the state subsidizes parents, paying them

around 150 euros per month for every child until he or

she turns 17. Schools provide food, counseling and taxi

service if needed. Health care is even free for students

taking degree courses.

F Finland’s schools were not always a wonder. For the first

half of the twentieth century, only the privileged got a

quality education. But In 1963, the Finnish Parliament

made the bold decision to choose public education as

the best means of driving the economy forward and out

of recession. Public schools were organized into one

system of comprehensive schools for ages 7 through 16.

Teachers from all over the nation contributed to a national

curriculum that provided guidelines, not prescriptions,

for them to refer to. Besides Finnish and Swedish (the

country’s second official language), children started

learning a third language (English is a favorite) usually

beginning at age nine. The equal distribution of equipment

was next, meaning that all teachers had their fair share of

teaching resources to aid learning. As the comprehensive

schools improved, so did the upper secondary schools

(grades 10 through 12). The second critical decision came

in 1979, when it was required that every teacher gain a

fifth-year Master’s degree in theory and practice, paid

for by the state. From then on, teachers were effectively

granted equal status with doctors and lawyers. Applicants

began flooding teaching programs, not because the

salaries were so high but because autonomous decision-

making and respect made the job desirable. And as

Louhivuori explains, ‘We have our own motivation to

succeed because we love the work.’

Reading

© LynNell Hancock/Smithsonian Magazine

Questions 7–13

Complete the notes below.

Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 7–13 on your answer sheet.

The school system in FinlandPISA tests

In the most recent tests, Finland’s top subject was 7

History

1963:

A new school system was needed to improve Finland’s 8 .

Schools followed 9 that were created partly by teachers.

Young pupils had to study an additional 10 .

All teachers were given the same 11 to use.

1979:

Teachers had to get a 12 but they did not have to pay for this.

Applicants were attracted to the 13 that teaching received.